NPR examines horse racing on All Things Considered 6/4/08

[Guest guest]

On Wednesday, June 4, NPR's All Things Considered ran a segment they headed,

"Bred for Edge, Greatest Racers May Have Handicaps." You can listen to the four minute segment or read the web story, which provides

much of the same information, on line at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91158342

It discusses concerns that Big Brown, who just won the Preakness at which Eight

Belles died, will be raced in the Belmont Stakes this Saturday, running on a

cracked hoof. The story tells us that the danger to Big Brown is small, and it

presents, overall, what some of us might feel is too "balanced" a view

of horse racing. But it does include this segment:

"After Eight Belles' breakdown, a sports columnist in The New York

Times referred to horse racing as the new bullfighting. Some animal-rights

groups have called for a ban on racing. And a congressional committee is

investigating. Industry leaders have taken notice. The Jockey Club, which

maintains the official thoroughbred registry, has a safety committee that's

looking into issues such as whether legal steroids are safe and whether track

surfaces need to be changed, and it is trying to get a handle on just how many

horses break down."

That kind of coverage of "the sport of kings" is new, and should be

commended. Please thank All Things Considered for focusing on the issue.

Positive feedback for animal friendly coverage encourages more of it. You may

wish to include your own (polite) comments about horse racing. NPR takes comments at http://www.npr.org/contact/

Choose All Things Considered from the pull-down menu.

Those who are just learning about what goes on behind the scenes might enjoy

reading the horse racing section in "Thanking the Monkey," which can

be viewed on line at: http://www.thankingthemonkey.com/view_jump.php

Yours and the animals',

Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the

media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can

learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may

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Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews of Karen Dawn's new

book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals” and

watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.